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Duke  University  Libraries 

An  act  to  organ 
Conf  Pam  12mo  #948 


A^     a.ct 

10  ORGANIZE  FORCES  TO  SEi>'\  \i:. 

'//,r  Congress  of  the  Confederal     Sat     ■     Jmcrtfui  d  Thai 

from  and  after  the  passage  ofthis  act,  all  whit*  men,  residents  of  the 
Confederate  States,  between  the  ageso  md  fifty, 

lie  in  tlio  military  service  of  the  Gonfi  •  for  the  war. 

Sec.  ..'.  That  .ill  Up'  persons  aforesaid,  between  the 
eighteen  ami  forty-five,  now  in  sen  ice,  shall  be  retained,  daring 
the  present  war  with  the  United  States,  in  tho  same  regiments, 
battalions  and  companies  to  which  they  belong  al  the  passage  of 
this  act.  witli  the  same  organization  and  officers  unless  regularly 
transfer it'd  or  discharged,  in  accordance  with  the  laws  and  regu- 
lations for  the  government  of  the  army:  Provided,  That  compa- 
nies from  one  State,  organized  against  their  consent,  ex] 
the  time,  with  regiments  or  battalions  from  another  State,  shall 
have  the  privilege  of  being  transferred  to  organizations  of  troops 
in  the  same  arm  of  tho  service  from  the  State  in  which  said  com- 
panies were  raised  and  the  soldiers  from  one  State  in  companic- 
from  another  State  shall  be  allowed,  if  they  desire  it,  a  transfer 
to  organizations   from    their   own    Slate    in  the     .une  arm   of  the 

service. 

Sec.  •!.  Thai,  at  the  expiration  of  six  months  from  the  first 
da}'  of  April  next,  a  bounty  of  one  hundred  dollars,  in  a  six  per 
cent.  Government  bond,  which  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ie 
hercb}'  authorized  to  issue,  shall  be  paid  to  every  uori-commis- 
sioned  officer,  musician  and  private  who  shall  then  bo  in  tie 
vice,  or,  in  the  event  of  his  death  previous  to  the  period  of  such 
payment,  then  to  the  person  or  persons  who  would  be  entitled  by 
law  to  receive  the  arrearage-  of  his  pay,  but  no  one  shall  be  enti- 
tled to  the  bounty  herein  provided  who  shall,  at  any  time  during 
I  ho  period  of  six  months  next  after  the  said  firsl  day  of  April,  be 
absent  from  bis  command  without  leave. 

SlC.  I.  That  no  person  shall  lie  relieved  from  the  operation  of 
(his  act  by  reason  of  having  been  heretofore  discharged  from  the 
army  where  no  disability  now  exists,  nor  shall  thpse  who  have  fur- 
nished substitutes  l<e  any  longer  exempted  by  reason  thereof: 
Provided,  That  no  person  heretofore  exempted  on  account  of  reli- 
gious opinions,  and  who  has  paid  the  tax  levied  to  relieve  him 
from  service,  shall  be  required  to  render  military  service  under 
this  act. 

Sr,<  .  5.  That  all  white  male  residents  of  the  Confederate  Sti 
between  the  ages  of  seventeen  and  eighteen  and  forty-live  and 
fifty  years  shall  enroll  themselves,  at  auch  times  and  places,  aud 
under  such  regulations  as  the  President  may  prescribe,  the  time 
allowed  not  being  less  than  thirty  days  for  those  east,  and  sixty 
days  for  those  west  of  tho  Mississippi  river;  and  any  person  who 
shall  fail  so  to  enroll  himself,  without  a  reasonable  excuse  there- 
top,  to  be  judged  of  by  tho  Presideut,  shall  be  placed  in  servico  in 


the  field  lor  the  war,  in  the  same  manner  :is  though  he  were  be- 
tween  the  ages  of  eighteen  and  forty-five:  Provided,  That  the 
persons  mentioned  in  this  section  shall  constitute  a  reserve  for 
State  defence  and  detail  duty,  and  shall  not  be  required  to  per- 
form service  out  of  the  State  in  which  they  reside. 

Sir.  c.  That  all  persona  required  by  tin-  tilth  section  of  this  act 
to  enroll  themselves  may,  within  thirty  days  after  the  passage 

hereof,  east  of  the  Mississippi  river  and  within  sixty  days  if  west, 
of  said  river,  form  themselves  into  voluntary  organizations  oi 
companies,  battalions  or  regiments,  and  elect  1  heir  own  officers — 

said  organizations  to  conform  to  the  existing  law  ;  and  having  so 
organized,  to  tender  their  services  as  volunteers  during  the  war 

to  the  President;  and  if  such  organization  shall  furnish  proper 
muster  rolls,  as  now  required,  and  deposit  a  copy  thereof  with 
the  enrolling  officer  of  their  district  (which  shall  be  equivalent  to 
enrollment,)  they  may  be  accepted  as  minute  men  for  service  in 
such  Si  ale  :  but  in  no  event  to  be  taken  out  of  it.  Those  who  do 
not  so  volunteer  and  organize  shall  enroll  themselves  as  before  pro- 
vided, and  may,  by  the  President,  be  required  to  assemble  at  places 
of  rendezvous,  and  be  formed  into  companies,  battalions  and  regi- 
ments, under  regulations  to  be  prescribed  by  him,  and  shall  have 
the  right  to  elect  their  company  and  regimental  officers,  and  all 
troops  organized  under  this  act  for  State  defence  shall  be  entitled, 
while  in  actual  service,  to  the  same  pay  and  allowances  as  troops 
now  in  the  field. 

Sec.  7.  That  any  person  who  shall  fail  to  attend  at  the  place  of 
rendezvous,  as  required  by  the  authority  of  the  President,  without 
asullieient  .excuse,  to  be  judged  of  by  him,  shall  be  liable  to  be 
placed  in  service  in  the  field  for  the  war  as  if  he  were  between 
the  ages  of  eighteen  and  forty-live  years. 

Sec.  8.  That  hereafter  the  duties  of  provost  and  hospital  guards 
and  clerks,  of  clerks,  guards,  agents,  employees,  or  laborers  in 
the  Commissary's  and  Quartermaster's  Departments,  in  the  Ord- 
nance Department,  and  clerks  and  employees  of  navy  agents,  as 
also  in  the  execution  of  the  enrollment  acts,  and  all  similar  duties, 
shall  he  performed  by  persons  who  are  within  the  ages  of  eighteen 
and  forty-five  years,  and  who,  by  the  report  of  a  board  of  army 
surgeons,  shall  be  reported  as  unable  to  perform  active  service  in 
the  field,  but  capable  of  performing  some  of  the  above-named 
duties,  specifying  which;  and  when  those  persons  shall  have  been 
assigned  to  those  duties  as  far  as  practicable,  the  President,  shall 
detail  or  assign  to  their  performance  such  bodies  of  troeps  or  indi- 
viduals, required  to  be  enrolled  under  the  fifth  section  of  this  act 
as  may  be  needed  for  the  discharge  of  such  duties:  Provided, 
That  persons  between  the  ages  of  seventeen  and  eighteen  shall 
not  be  assigned  to  these  duties  :  Provided,  further,  That  nothing 
contained  in  this  act  shall  be  so  construed  as  to  prevent  the  Presi- 
dent from  detailing  artisans,  mechanics,  or  persons  of  scientific 
skill  to  perform  indispensable  duties  in  the  departments  or 
bureaus  herein  mentioned. 

Sao.  9.  That  any  quartermaster  or  assistant  quartermaster, com- 
nussary  or  assistant  commissary,  (other  than  those  serving  with 


regiments  and  brigades  in  the  field,)  or  oilicer  in  the  ordnance 
bureau,  or  navy  agent,  or  provost  marshal,  or  officer  in  tho  con- 
script service,  who  shall  hereafter  employ  or  retain  in  his  employ- 
ment any  person  in  any  of  their  said  departments  or  bureaus,  or 
in  any  of  the  duties  mentioned  in  the  eighth  section  of  this  act, 
in  violation  of  the  provisions  hereof,  shall,  on  conviction  thereof, 
by  a  court  martial  or  military  court,  he  cashiered;  and  it  shall  be 
the  duty  of  an}*  department  or  district  commander,  upon  proof 
by  the  oath  of  any  credible  person,  that  any  such  officer  has 
violated  this  provision,  immediately  to  relieve  such  oilicer  from 
duty;  and  said  commander  shall  take  prompt  measures  to  have 
him  tried  for  such  offence,  and  any  commander  as  aforesaid 
jailing  to  perform  the  duties  enjoined  by  this  section,  shall,  upon 
being  did}'  convicted  thereof,  be  dismissed  from  the  service. 

Si.r.  10.  That  all  laws  granting  exemptions  from  military  ser- 
vice be,  and  the  same  are  hereby  repealed,  and  hereafter  none 
shall  be  exempted  except  the  following  i 

I.  All  who  shall  be  held  unfit  for  military  service,  under  rulea 
to  be  prescribed  by  the  .Secretary  of  War. 

II.  The  Vice-President  of  the  Confederate  States;  the  mem- 
bers and  officers  of  Congress  and  of  the  several  Slate  Legisla- 
tures, and  such  other  Confederate  and  Slate  officers  as  the  Presi- 
dent or  the  Governors  of  the  respective  States  may  certify  to  be 
necessary  for  the  proper  administration  of  the  Confederate  Ol 
Slate  Governments,  as  the  case  may  be. 

III.  Every  minister  of  religion  authorized  to  preach  according 
10  the  rules  of  his  church,  and  who,  at  the  passage  of  this  ad. 
shall  be  regularly  employed  in  the  discharge  of  his  ministerial 
duties;  superintendents  and  physicians  of  asylums  ol' the  deal, 
dumb  and  blind  and  of  the  insane;  one  editor  for  each  newspaper 
being  published  at  the  time  of  the  passage  of  this  act,  and  such 
employees  as  said  editor  may  certify  on  oath  to  be  indispensable 
to  the  publication  of  such  newspaper;  the  public  printer  of  the 
Confederate  and  State  Governments,  and  such  journeymen  print- 
ers as  the  said  public  printer  shall  certify  on  oath  to  be  indispen- 
sable to  perform  the  public  printing;  one  skilled  apothecary  in 
each  apothecary  store,  who  was  doing  business  as  such  apothe- 
cary on  the  tenth  day  of  October,  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty- 
two,  and  has  continued  said  business,  without  intermission,  since 
that  period  ;  all  physicians  over  the  age  of  thirty  years  who  now 
are,  and  for  the  last  seven  years  have  beon,  in  the  actual  and 
regular  practice  of  their  profession,  but  the  term  physician  shall 
not  include  dentists;  all  presidents  and  teachers  oi'  colleges,  the- 
ological seminaries,  academies,  and  schools,  who  have  beon  regu- 
larly engaged  as  such  for  two  years  next  before  the  pass- 
age of  this  act  :  Provided,  That  the  benefit  of  this  exemption 
shall  extend  to  those  teachers  only  whose  schools  are  composed 
of  twenty  students  or  more;  all  superintendents  of  public  hos- 
pitals established  by  law  before  the  passage  of  this  act,  and  such 
physicians  and  nurses  therein  as  such  superintendent  shall  certify 
on  oath  to  be  indispensable  to  the  proper  and  efficient  manage- 
ment thereof 


I  V.  There  shall  be  exempt  One  person  as  ovorseer  or  agricul- 
turalist on  each  form  or  plantation  u] »on  which  there  are  now, 
and  were,  upon  the  first  daj  of  January  last,  fifteen  able-bodied 
field  hands,  between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and,  fifty,  upon  the  fol- 
lowing  conditions;  i.  Thia  exemption  shall  only  bo  granted 
in  cases  in  which  there  is  no  white  male  adult  on  the  farm  or 
plantation  not  liable  Lo  military  service,  nor  unless  the  person 
claiming  the  exemption  was, on  the  firsl  da}' of  January,  eighteen 
hundred  and  sixty-four,  oil  her  I  be  ovi  ner  and  manager,  or  overseer 
of  said  plantation  ;  but  in  no  case  shall  more  than  one  person  be 
exempted  for  one  farm  or  plantation.  _.  Such  person  shall  first 
exocute  ;i  bond,  payable  to  the  Confederate  States  of  America,  in 
such  form, and  with  such  security,  and  in  such  penalty,  as  the 
Secretary  of  War  may  prescribe,  conditioned  that  ho  will  deliver 
to  the  Government,  at  Borne  railroad  depot,  or  such  other  place  or 
places  as  may  l)e  designated  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  within 
twelve  months  then  next  ensuing,  one  hundred  pounds  of  bacon, 
or,  at  the  election  of  the  Government,  its  equivalent  in  pork,  and 
one  hundred  pounds  ol  nor  beef,  (said  beef  to  be  delivered  on  fool,) 
for  each  able-bodied  slave  on  the  farm  or  plantation  within  the 
::h..\v  Raid  ages,  whether  said  slaves  bo  worked  in  the  field  or 
not,  which  said  bacon  or  pork  and  beef  shall  be  paid  for  by  the 
Government  :it  the  prices  fixed  by  the  commissioners  of  the 
State  under  the  impressment  act :  Provided,  That  when  the  per- 
son thus  exempted  shall  produce  satisfactory  evidence  that  it  has 
been  impossible  for  him,  by  the  exercise  of  proper  diligence,  to 
furnish  the  amount,  of  meat  thus  contracted  for,  and  leave  an  ad- 
equate supply  for  the  subsistence  of  those  living  on  said  farm  or 
plantation,  the  Secretary  of  War  shall  direct  a  commutation  of 
the  sann:  to  the  extent  of  two-thirds  thereof  in  grain  or  other 
provisions,  to  be  delivered  hy  such  person  as  aforesaid  at  equiva- 
lent rates.  S.  Such  person  shall  further  bind  himself  to  sell  the 
marketable  surplus  of  provisions  and  grain  now  on  hand,  and 
which  he  may  raise  from  year  to  year,  while  his  exemption  con- 
tinues, to  the  Government  or  to  the  families  of  soldiers,  at  prices 
fixed  by  the  commissioners  oi  the  State^under  the  impressment 
act:  Provided,  That  any  person,  exempted  as  aforesaid,  shall  be 
entitled  to  a  credit  pf  twenty-live  per  cent,  on  any  amount  of 
meat  which  be  may  deliver  within  three  months  from  (he  passage 
of  this  act:  Provided ,  further,  Thai  persons  coming  within  the 
provisions  of  this  exemption  shall  not  be  deprived  thereof  by 
reason  oi  having  been  enrolled  since  the  first  daj  of  February, 
eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-four. 

in  addition  to  the  foregoing  exemptions,  the  Secretary  of  War. 
under  the  direction  pf  the  President,  may  exempt  or  detail  such 
other  person  as  ho  may  bo  satisfied  ought  to  be  exempted  on  ac- 
count of  public  necessity,  and  to  insure  the  production  of  grain 
and  provisions  for  the  army  and  the  families  of  soldiers,  lie 
may,  also,  grant  exemptions  or  details,  on  such  terms  as  he  may 
prescribe,  to  such  overseers,  farmers  or  planters,  as  he  may  be 
satisfied  will  be  more  useful  to  the  country  in  the  pursuits  of  ag- 
riculture than   in  the  military  service  :   Provided,  That  such  ex- 


eruptions  shall  cease  whenever  tho  farmer,  planter  or  overseer, 
shall  fail  diligently  to  employ,  in  gpod  faith, his  own  skill, capital 
and  labor,  exclusively  in  the  production  of  grain  and  provisions, 
to  he  sold  to  the  Government  and  the  families  of  soldiers  at 
juices  not  exceeding  those  fixed  at  the  time  for  like  articles  l\ 
the  commissioners  of  the  Stale  under  the  impressment  act. 

V.  The  president,  treasurer,  auditor  and  superintendent,  of  any 
railroad  company  engaged  in  transportation  for  the  Government, 
and  such  officers  and  employees  thereol  us  the  president  or  super- 
intendent shall  certify, oh  oath, to  he  indispensable  to  the  efficient 
operation  of  such  railroad  :  Provided,  That  the  number  of  poraons 
exempted  by  this  act  on  any  railroad  shall  not  exceed  one  for  each 
mile  of  such  road  in  actual  use  for  military  transportation,  and 
said  exempts  shall  be  reported  by  name  and  description,  with  the 
namosof  any  whomay  have  left  the  employment  of  said  company, 
or  who  may  cease  to  be  indispensable  to  the  efficient  operation 
of  its  road,  at  least  one.'  a  month,  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  or 
such  officer  as  he  may  designate  for  that  purpose:  And  provided 
further,  That  such  president  or  superintendent  shall,  in  each  such 
monthly  report,  certify  on  oath,  that  no  person  liable  to  military 
service  has  been  employed  l>y  his  company  since  the  passage  of 
this  act,  in  any  position  in  which  it  was  practicable  to  employ 
one  not  liable  to  military  service,  and  capable  of  performing  effi- 
ciently the  duties  of  such  position.  And  in  eases  where  railroads 
have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  tho  enemy,  and  a  portion  of  the 
rolling  stock  <>i  sueh  roads  is  being  used  on  other  roads  not  in  tho 
enemy's  hands,  the  president  and  superintendent  of  said  firsl- 
named  roads  shall  he  exempt. 

VI.  That  nothing  herein  contained  shall  he  construed  as  re- 
pealing the  act  approved  April  fourteenth,  eighteen  hundred  and 
sixty-three,  entitled  "  An  act  to  exempt  contractors  for  carrying 
the  mails  of  the  Confederate  States,  and  the  drivers  of  post- 
coaches  and  hacks,  from  military  service :"  Provided,  That 
the  exemptions  granted  under  this  act  shall  only  continue  whilst 
the  persons  exempted  are  actually  engaged  in  their  respective 
pursuits  or  occupations. 

Sec.  II.  That  the  President  be,  and  he  is  hereby,  authorized  to 
grant  details,  under  general  rules  and  regulations  to  he  issued  by 
i  he  War  Department,  cither  from  persons  between  forty-five  and 
fifty  years  of  age,  or  from  the  army  in  the  held,  in  all  cases  when,  in 
his  judgment,  justice,  equity  and  necessity,  require  such  details. 
and  he  may  revoke  sueh  orders  of  details  whenever  he  thinks 
proper:  Provided,  That  the  power  herein  granted  to  the  Presi- 
dent to  make  details  and  exemptions  shall  not  he  construed  to  au- 
thorize the  exemption  or  detail  of  any  contractor  for  furnishing 
supplies  of  any  kind  to  the  Government,  !>y  reason  of  said  con- 
tract, unless  the  head  or  Secretary  of  the  department  making  such 
contract  shall  certify  that  the  personal  services  of  said  contractor 
are  indispensable  to  the  execution  of  the  contract:  Provided 
further,  That  when  any  such  contractor  shall  fail  diligently  and 
faithfully  to  proceed  with  the  execution  of  such  contract,  his  ex- 
emption or  detail  shall  cease. 


Sec.  I'-.  That  in  appointing  local  boards  of  Burgeons  for  the 

examination  of  persons  liable  to  military  service,  no  member  com 
posing  t lie  same  shall  be  appointed  from  the  county  or  enrolling 

district  in  which  they  are  required  to  make  such  examination. 

Approved,  February  17,  1864, 


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